JPH10244788A - Card or card material and manufacture thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To form vivid and fine image readily even in the case of employing material being difficult to be formed with images as a base material by providing an image formable-image receiving layer transferred on the foundation by heat transfer. SOLUTION: The base material 1 is formed of material such as polyethyleneterephthalate, polycarbonate, and ABS resin. The image receiving layer 2 is a layer where images are formed and retained, and it is made up of easily image formable material, e.g. polyester resin, polyvinyl chloride resin, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymeric resin, or the like. The image receiving layer 2 is made on the base material 1 by heat-transfer. Concretely, heat-transfer is carried out by the use of heat-transfer film 10 with the image receiving layer 2 formed on a carrier sheet 11. When heat-transfer is implemented, the heat- transfer film 10 is bonded on the base material 1 by a heat-transfer roller 20 having a heater incorporated therein, so that the image receiving layer 2 is transferred on the base material 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a telephone card,
The present invention relates to a card or card material such as a cash card, a credit card, a prepaid card, a member's card, an IC card (contact type or non-contact type), and a card or card material capable of forming clear and good images, and a method of manufacturing the same. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When manufacturing cards or card materials such as telephone cards, cash cards, credit cards, prepaid cards, members' cards and IC cards, an image is formed on a resin base material.

As a method of forming an image, printing has been used because mass production is possible, but this method is not suitable when the number of sheets is small or when an original image is formed.
On the other hand, when the number of sheets is small, it is advantageous in forming an original image, and as an image forming method suitable for rapid manufacturing and image processing by digital processing, sublimation thermal transfer is , Fusing thermal transfer, inkjet and electrophotographic systems.

Conventionally, vinyl chloride resin has been used as a base material of a card or card material because of ease of image formation by sublimation thermal transfer, melt thermal transfer, ink jet or electrophotographic method, but from the viewpoint of environmental protection. Disposal was a problem.

[0005] From such a viewpoint, polyethylene terephthalate or polycarbonate is used as a base material of a card or a card material, but when these are used as a base material, sublimation thermal transfer, melt thermal transfer, ink jet or electrophotography are used. It is not always easy to form an image by a method, or it is hard to say that a clear and good image can be formed.

To solve such a problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-1
Japanese Patent No. 038989 discloses a technique of coating a substrate with a film having better dyeability than polyethylene terephthalate as the substrate. However, in this technique, such a film is bonded with an adhesive, and there is a drawback in that the production is troublesome.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. Even when a material on which an image is hardly formed is used as a substrate, a clear and good image can be easily obtained. It is an object of the present invention to provide a card or card material that can be formed on a card, and a method for manufacturing the card or card material.

[0008]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides: (1) a base material and a base material which is transferred by thermal transfer onto the base material;
A card or card material comprising an image receiving layer capable of forming an image. (2) The card or card according to (1), wherein the image receiving layer comprises one or more selected from a polyester resin, a vinyl chloride resin, and a vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer resin. Provide the material. (3) The card or card material according to (1) or (2), wherein the base material is formed of polyethylene terephthalate, polycarbonate, ABS resin, or polyolefin. (4) The card or card material according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein the image receiving layer is formed on a predetermined portion of the base material. (5) The card or the card material according to any one of (1) to (4), wherein the image receiving layer is formed by forming an image by sublimation thermal transfer, melt thermal transfer, inkjet, or electrophotography. I do. (6) In the item (5), a card or a card material further comprising a protective layer formed on the image receiving layer is provided. (7) A method for producing a card or card material, comprising thermally transferring an image receiving layer onto a substrate using a thermal transfer sheet having an image receiving layer on which an image can be formed.

In the present invention, since an image-receiving layer capable of forming an image is formed on a substrate by thermal transfer, a card or card material having a clear and excellent image can be formed extremely easily.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a card or card material according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a base material, on which an image receiving layer 2 is formed by thermal transfer.

The substrate 1 is made of polyethylene terephthalate,
It is made of polycarbonate, ABS resin, polyolefin, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride and the like. Among these materials, polyethylene terephthalate, polycarbonate, ABS resin and polyolefin are preferred. The substrate 1 may be a single layer obtained from a single resin or a plurality of resins, or may be a laminate of a plurality of resin layers or sheets.

The image receiving layer 2 is a layer on which an image is formed and maintained, and is a material that facilitates image formation, for example, polyester resin, polyvinyl chloride resin, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer resin, polyvinyl acetate. It is formed of a resin, a polyacrylate resin, a styrene-acrylic copolymer resin, a polyurethane resin, a polyamide resin, or the like. Preferably, it is one or more selected from polyester resins, polyvinyl chloride resins, and vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer resins. The image receiving layer 2 has sublimation thermal transfer,
The image is formed by fusing thermal transfer, ink jet, or electrophotography. By forming an image in this manner, a clear and good image can be formed on the image receiving layer 2 formed of the above-described material. In addition to the resin, a pigment, an extender, an ultraviolet absorber, a light stabilizer, a solvent, and the like can be added to the image receiving layer 2.

The image receiving layer 2 is formed on the substrate 1 by thermal transfer. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, thermal transfer is performed using a thermal transfer film 10 in which an image receiving layer 2 is formed on a support sheet 11. When performing thermal transfer, as shown in FIG. 3, a thermal transfer roll 20 having a built-in heater is used.
The thermal transfer film 10 is thermocompression-bonded to the substrate 1, and the image receiving layer 2 is transferred onto the substrate 1.

The support sheet 11 has a thickness of about 10 to 100 μm and is made of a resin film such as polyethylene terephthalate or polyolefin. The image receiving layer 2 is formed on the support sheet 11 by, for example, forming a paint containing a resin for the image receiving layer by roll coating, gravure coating, or the like. Note that, in addition to the support film 11 and the image receiving layer 2, the thermal transfer sheet 10 may be provided with a release layer, an adhesive layer, and the like, if necessary.

When the image receiving layer 2 is formed on the entire surface of the substrate 1 by thermal transfer, the edge is clean. In the case of the conventional method of forming an image receiving layer by adhesion, a cutting step is required, so that the edge finish must be deteriorated. However, the use of the thermocompression bonding as in the present invention eliminates the cutting step and eliminates the edge portion. It becomes beautiful.

When the image receiving layer 2 is formed by thermal transfer, not only the entire substrate 1 but also, as shown in FIG.
It is also easy to partially form the image receiving layer 2 at a predetermined position on the substrate 1. By doing this,
The image receiving layer 2 can be formed only on a portion where an image is formed. For example, when a face photograph needs to be formed on a card, the image receiving layer 2 can be formed only on that portion.

In the case where the image receiving layer is partially formed, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, a thermal transfer roll 21 having projections 22 on its periphery is used, and the thermal transfer sheet is thermocompression-bonded to the base material by the projections 22. Thereby, the image receiving layer 2 is thermocompression-bonded only to the portion corresponding to the protrusion 22.

The surface of the image formed on the image receiving layer is protected,
An overprint varnish may be painted or printed for the purpose of imparting gloss. Further, a protective layer may be formed by laminating sheets or films.

The present invention is directed to a card or a card material. Therefore, the substrate 1 is completed as a card after completion of embedding or fitting of an IC chip, formation and punching of a magnetic layer and the like. It may be a sheet, a sheet-shaped thing before punching,
It may be before embedding or fitting of an IC chip or before a magnetic layer or the like is formed.

A general example of a card manufacturing process according to the present invention will be described below. In the case of a thin card such as a telephone card or a prepaid card, a magnetic layer is first formed on a base material sheet, or printing is performed on a common portion of the base material surface (and also on the magnetic layer surface if necessary). Then, the substrate is punched into a card shape. Then, the image receiving layer is thermally transferred to the entire surface or a predetermined portion of the punched substrate. Further, when not printed on the base material surface, printing is performed on the common portion. Thereafter, the individual information is image-formed on the image receiving layer, and a foil stamping and a hologram layer are formed as necessary.

In the case of a cash card or the like among thick cards, a thick base sheet is punched into a card shape, printed on the surface thereof, and then a magnetic tape is interposed therebetween, and a film is formed thereon. Laminate. afterwards,
The image receiving layer is thermally transferred to the entire surface or a predetermined portion of the card-shaped base material, an image of individual information is formed on the image receiving layer, and foil pressing, hologram formation, and embossing are performed as necessary.

In the case of an IC card, the contact type
The card-shaped substrate on which the IC card insertion portion is formed is printed and applied, and then the IC card is inserted. In the case of the non-contact type, an IC chip is embedded at the time of molding a substrate, and then printing is performed. In any type, the subsequent steps after the formation of the image receiving layer are performed in the same manner as in the case of a cash card.

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
(Example 1) 1. Preparation of Thermal Transfer Sheet An image-receiving layer coating solution obtained by dissolving 10 parts (by weight) of a vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer resin (Electrical Chemical Industries, Vinyl 1000) in 100 parts of a mixed solvent of methyl ethyl ketone and toluene was applied to polyethylene having a thickness of 25 μm. Terephthalate was applied by gravure coating to a dry film thickness of 3 μm and dried with hot air.

2. Preparation of Card or Card Material By using the thermal transfer sheet on a polyethylene terephthalate card base material (thickness: 500 μm) by the thermal transfer device 30 in FIG.
The image receiving layer was transferred to the card substrate under the conditions of a transport speed of 6 m / min. In the apparatus shown in FIG.
1, the card base material 41 is conveyed, and the press cylinder 3
2, the transfer roll 33 is moved downward,
The thermal transfer sheet 40 and the card base material 41 drawn out of the substrate are pressed between the transfer roll 33 and the support roll 34 and pressed, and the image receiving layer is transferred to the base material 41. Reference numeral 36
Is a take-up roll for the thermal transfer sheet 40, and 37 is a back tension roll.

3. On the image receiving layer of the image forming card, a thermal transfer recording sheet carrying a cyan sublimable dye in a binder is bulked, and a cyan component image obtained by color separation of a human image is thermally transferred and recorded by a thermal head as an electric signal, and the cyan image is formed. An image of the components was obtained. Similarly, a magenta image was formed from a thermal transfer recording sheet containing a magenta sublimable dye. Next, a thermal transfer sheet having a dye layer carrying a yellow sublimable dye and a protective layer (acrylic resin) was bulked to form a yellow image and thermally transfer the protective layer. As a result, a clear image was obtained on the image receiving layer.

Example 2 Using the thermal transfer sheet of Example 1, an image receiving layer was transferred only to a portion (2 × 2 cm) of a polyethylene terephthalate card base material (thickness: 2 μm) in which a face photograph was inserted. In this case, as a transfer roll in the apparatus of FIG. 6, one protrusion (made of metal) of 2 × 2 cm and a thickness of 100 μm was fixed, and thermal transfer was performed in the same manner as in Example 1. As a result, only the protrusions were thermally transferred, and the image receiving layer was partially formed only on predetermined portions of the card base material. Thereafter, image formation was performed in the same manner as in Example 1, and as a result, a clear image was formed on the partially formed image receiving layer.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since an image-receiving layer capable of forming an image is formed on a substrate by thermal transfer, a card or card material having a clear and good image can be formed extremely easily regardless of the material of the substrate. Further, since the image receiving layer can be partially formed, it is possible to meet various requirements, for example, a bar code. Further, since the image receiving layer is formed by thermal transfer, the edge portion is clean.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a card or card material according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing one example of a thermal transfer sheet used for manufacturing the card or card material of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a method for forming an image receiving layer on a substrate by thermal transfer.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a card in which an image receiving layer is partially formed at a predetermined position.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a transfer roll used when forming an image receiving layer partially.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a thermal transfer device used in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Base material 2 ... Image receiving layer 10 ... Thermal transfer sheet 11 ... Support sheet 20, 21 ... Thermal transfer roll 21 ... Projection

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A card or card material comprising: a base material; and an image-receiving layer capable of forming an image, which is transferred onto the base material by thermal transfer. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image receiving layer is made of one or more selected from a polyester resin, a vinyl chloride resin, and a vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer resin. Card or card material. 3. The card or card material according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is formed of polyethylene terephthalate, polycarbonate, ABS resin, or polyolefin. 4. The card or card material according to claim 1, wherein the image receiving layer is partially formed on a predetermined portion of the base material. 5. The card according to claim 1, wherein the image receiving layer is formed by sublimation thermal transfer, melt thermal transfer, ink jet, or electrophotography. Or card material. 6. The card or card material according to claim 5, further comprising a protective layer formed on the image receiving layer. 7. A method for producing a card or card material, comprising thermally transferring an image receiving layer onto a substrate using a thermal transfer sheet having an image receiving layer on which an image can be formed.